iHaveNet.com
Congress Must Act Now to Alleviate Child Hunger | United States
Online Breaking News Headlines Single Source to Headlines Breaking News Current Events Top Stories. Find out what is happening in News & the World. Check out iHaveNet.com for the latest news & current events articles plus Movie Reviews, Wolfgang Puck Recipes, NFL Previews Analysis and Politics. Your Single Source to News Articles, Current Events & Reviews.
  • HOME
  • WORLD
    • Africa
    • Asia Pacific
    • Balkans
    • Caucasas
    • Central Asia
    • Eastern Europe
    • Europe
    • Indian Subcontinent
    • Latin America
    • Middle East
    • North Africa
    • Scandinavia
    • Southeast Asia
    • United Kingdom
    • United States
    • Argentina
    • Australia
    • Austria
    • Benelux
    • Brazil
    • Canada
    • China
    • France
    • Germany
    • Greece
    • Hungary
    • India
    • Indonesia
    • Ireland
    • Israel
    • Italy
    • Japan
    • Korea
    • Mexico
    • New Zealand
    • Pakistan
    • Philippines
    • Poland
    • Russia
    • South Africa
    • Spain
    • Taiwan
    • Turkey
    • United States
  • USA
    • ECONOMICS
    • EDUCATION
    • ENVIRONMENT
    • FOREIGN POLICY
    • POLITICS
    • OPINION
    • TRADE
    • Atlanta
    • Baltimore
    • Bay Area
    • Boston
    • Chicago
    • Cleveland
    • DC Area
    • Dallas
    • Denver
    • Detroit
    • Houston
    • Los Angeles
    • Miami
    • New York
    • Philadelphia
    • Phoenix
    • Pittsburgh
    • Portland
    • San Diego
    • Seattle
    • Silicon Valley
    • Saint Louis
    • Tampa
    • Twin Cities
  • BUSINESS
    • FEATURES
    • eBUSINESS
    • HUMAN RESOURCES
    • MANAGEMENT
    • MARKETING
    • ENTREPRENEUR
    • SMALL BUSINESS
    • STOCK MARKETS
    • Agriculture
    • Airline
    • Auto
    • Beverage
    • Biotech
    • Book
    • Broadcast
    • Cable
    • Chemical
    • Clothing
    • Construction
    • Defense
    • Durable
    • Engineering
    • Electronics
    • Firearms
    • Food
    • Gaming
    • Healthcare
    • Hospitality
    • Leisure
    • Logistics
    • Metals
    • Mining
    • Movie
    • Music
    • Newspaper
    • Nondurable
    • Oil & Gas
    • Packaging
    • Pharmaceutic
    • Plastics
    • Real Estate
    • Retail
    • Shipping
    • Sports
    • Steelmaking
    • Textiles
    • Tobacco
    • Transportation
    • Travel
    • Utilities
  • WEALTH
    • CAREERS
    • INVESTING
    • PERSONAL FINANCE
    • REAL ESTATE
    • MARKETS
    • BUSINESS
  • STOCKS
    • ECONOMY
    • EMERGING MARKETS
    • STOCKS
    • FED WATCH
    • TECH STOCKS
    • BIOTECHS
    • COMMODITIES
    • MUTUAL FUNDS / ETFs
    • MERGERS / ACQUISITIONS
    • IPOs
    • 3M (MMM)
    • AT&T (T)
    • AIG (AIG)
    • Alcoa (AA)
    • Altria (MO)
    • American Express (AXP)
    • Apple (AAPL)
    • Bank of America (BAC)
    • Boeing (BA)
    • Caterpillar (CAT)
    • Chevron (CVX)
    • Cisco (CSCO)
    • Citigroup (C)
    • Coca Cola (KO)
    • Dell (DELL)
    • DuPont (DD)
    • Eastman Kodak (EK)
    • ExxonMobil (XOM)
    • FedEx (FDX)
    • General Electric (GE)
    • General Motors (GM)
    • Google (GOOG)
    • Hewlett-Packard (HPQ)
    • Home Depot (HD)
    • Honeywell (HON)
    • IBM (IBM)
    • Intel (INTC)
    • Int'l Paper (IP)
    • JP Morgan Chase (JPM)
    • J & J (JNJ)
    • McDonalds (MCD)
    • Merck (MRK)
    • Microsoft (MSFT)
    • P & G (PG)
    • United Tech (UTX)
    • Wal-Mart (WMT)
    • Walt Disney (DIS)
  • TECH
    • ADVANCED
    • FEATURES
    • INTERNET
    • INTERNET FEATURES
    • CYBERCULTURE
    • eCOMMERCE
    • mp3
    • SECURITY
    • GAMES
    • HANDHELD
    • SOFTWARE
    • PERSONAL
    • WIRELESS
  • HEALTH
    • AGING
    • ALTERNATIVE
    • AILMENTS
    • DRUGS
    • FITNESS
    • GENETICS
    • CHILDREN'S
    • MEN'S
    • WOMEN'S
  • LIFESTYLE
    • AUTOS
    • HOBBIES
    • EDUCATION
    • FAMILY
    • FASHION
    • FOOD
    • HOME DECOR
    • RELATIONSHIPS
    • PARENTING
    • PETS
    • TRAVEL
    • WOMEN
  • ENTERTAINMENT
    • BOOKS
    • TELEVISION
    • MUSIC
    • THE ARTS
    • MOVIES
    • CULTURE
  • SPORTS
    • BASEBALL
    • BASKETBALL
    • COLLEGES
    • FOOTBALL
    • GOLF
    • HOCKEY
    • OLYMPICS
    • SOCCER
    • TENNIS
  • Subscribe to RSS Feeds EMAIL ALERT Subscriptions from iHaveNet.com RSS
    • RSS | Politics
    • RSS | Recipes
    • RSS | NFL Football
    • RSS | Movie Reviews

ECONOMICS | EDUCATION | ENVIRONMENT | FOREIGN POLICY | POLITICS | OPINION | TRADE

U.S. CITIES:  

HOME > USA

Congress Must Act Now to Alleviate Child Hunger
Rachael Ray

 

Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

For most, "hunger" is a metaphor for a list of wants rather than needs. We hunger for more -- more time, more money, more of what the next guy has. Even when we use the term in reference to food it becomes hyperbole. If we go more than five or six hours in any busy day without a meal, we declare, "I'm starving!" just before we bite into our super-sized sandwiches.

Imagine the physical and emotional distress of true hunger. Now imagine suffering that pain as a child. An empty stomach makes a child feel empty emotionally, overlooked and forgotten. Even worse, it stunts their growth, harms their school test scores, spurs behavioral problems and increases school nurse visits.

Nearly 17 million American children struggle against hunger. For these children, school food programs are sometimes the only access they have to food. At the same time, one in three American kids is overweight or suffering from childhood obesity. Hunger and obesity are strange yet constant neighbors. In many cases, our kids are overweight or obese because their families simply cannot afford or physically do not have access to fresh, nutritious foods. School food systems are one of the only level playing fields we have to provide good nutrition to all of our kids.

Every five years or so, Congress reviews and revises the Child Nutrition Act through a process commonly known as Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR). This process sets rules and funding levels for the major youth food programs, including the School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Summer Food Service Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program and a Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). Rather than passing a new bill last year when the old one expired, Congress passed a one-year extension, which is set to expire at the end of September.

To truly end child hunger and reduce obesity, nutrition advocates estimate that a new bill would need an additional $4 billion per year. That would go toward improving meal quality by boosting reimbursement rates and reducing child hunger by increasing the number of kids fed by these programs. President Obama proposed a significant down payment towards this goal, requesting an extra $1 billion per year in his budget for CNR improvements.

Versions of a new child nutrition bill have passed the relevant committees in both the House and the Senate. While both bills would increase meal reimbursements and expand access to food programs to some extent, neither meets the president's proposed $1 billion per year. And, as children across the country are returning to school, we also run the real risk that Congress will end its session before passing a bill at all.

What can you do? What can we do? The answer is a lot. For starters, we can join the first lady in her Let's Move campaign, and join our president in his commitment to ending childhood hunger by 2015.Call your state's two U.S. senators and your representative in the U.S. House and tell them to pass -- and adequately fund -- a child nutrition bill immediately. Child hunger doesn't take a vacation, and until Congress members do something serious to fix the problem, neither should they.

Any child nutrition bill that passes will continue the school lunch and breakfast programs, as well as other vital efforts such as the WIC Program, which provides special packages of healthy food to low-income pregnant women and their small children. But a truly strong and adequately funded bill would significantly increase the number of children receiving meals at school, during the summer and in after-school programs, as well as significantly improve the nutritional quality of those meals.

Our communities want and welcome our support as active citizens. In my own community, Mayor Bloomberg and the Mayor's Fund in New York City have welcomed Yum-o! -- my nonprofit organization that empowers kids and their families to have a healthy relationship with food and cooking -- as a partner in our public school programs, providing support from the cafeteria to school gardens. Nationally, Sen. Gillibrand has included me in her work with Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa, Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) to move the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 forward, the Senate's version of Child Nutrition Reauthorization. On the House side, I recently joined Reps. Todd Platts (D-Pa.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) under the dedicated leadership of Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, as they introduced the House's version, the Improving Nutrition for America's Children Act of 2010.

My grandfather, Emmanuel Scuderi, suffered all his life from Type 1 diabetes, the causes of which are believed to be environmental and genetic. He battled it with a good, balanced Mediterranean diet and as much physical exercise as his body could bear. As I was fortunate enough to have shared a home with him as a small girl, I benefited by developing a palate similar to his: fish, kale, olive oil, garden vegetables and, oh, the tomatoes! It would have boggled his mind and broken his food-and-family-loving heart to see fully one-third of this country's children at risk of or suffering from Type 2 diabetes, which is largely preventable with a healthy diet and regular exercise.

Child hunger and malnutrition in the world's wealthiest nation is morally unacceptable. My good friend and colleague Joel Berg is the Batman of child nutrition and end-hunger campaigns. (His legit title is Executive Director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.) In a recent paper, Joel showed that the U.S. economy loses at least $28 billion per year due to poor school performance and long-term healthcare spending due to poor child nutrition. We can all do the math: pay now or pay a much greater price in every sense later.

I have a dog -- no human kids. But I care about this issue because our children are our collective investment in the future. Sadly, when we peer into a crystal ball on this topic, we can only see a dark horizon if we do not radically change our ways, fast. As a nation, we need to create a new "golden rule" if we are to ensure a healthy future in every way possible. The rule: You have to eat well to be well -- period.

RACHAEL RAY is a bestselling cookbook author, Emmy Award-winning television host and founder of Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine. In 2007 she founded Yum-o!, a charitable organization dedicated to empowering kids and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking.

 

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

 

  • Congress Must Act Now to Alleviate Child Hunger
  • The American Revolution's Ordinary Heroes
  • U.S. - U.K.: Difficult Duet in Afghanistan
  • New Finance Bill: Mountain of Legislative Paper; Molehill of Reform
  • Before the Wall Street Crisis, There Was 'Poverty, Inc.'
  • Financial Reform Another Talking Point for Obama & Democrats
  • Nuclear Energy Is Cheap and Reliable
  • New Nuclear Reactors Would Be Too Risky
  • Gingrich Blasts Plan for Mosque at Ground Zero
  • Build Mosque Near Ground Zero; It's the American Way
  • Gloom Awaits U.S. Climate Diplomacy
  • Outsourcing Government
  • PolitiFact Embraces Equivocation, Truth Gets Squeezed
  • Did Goldman Sachs Get Off Easy?
  • Senate Passes Landmark Financial Reform Bill
  • Republicans' Aversion to Financial Reform Misguided
  • U.S. Trouble With START and Other Treaties
  • The Health Care Reform Timeline
  • U.S. Needs Legislation to Protect Gun Rights
  • The War on Weeds
  • Spies Like Us
  • Role Reversal: The Feds vs. Arizona
  • Restraining the Profit Itch
  • American Decline Is a State of Mind
  • Empire Without End
  • Urban Abandonment
  • Imperative Need for America to Become an Innovation Nation
  • Your Guide to the Goldman Sachs Lawsuit
  • Resisting Wall Street Reform
  • Time to Break up the Big Banks
  • Obama Edge on Financial Reform
  • Ancient Oceans Now Endangered Oceans
  • Beyond Petroleum
  • How Small Loans Became Big Business

Receive Political Commentary Enter your email address:



Delivered by FeedBurner and iHaveNet.com

Congress Must Act Now to Alleviate Child Hunger

 

(c) 2010 Rachael Ray

 

Recommend

Search Powered By Google

Google Search   

Job & Career Search

career & job search                    job title, keywords, company, location

ADVERTISEMENT

POLITICS

Subscribe to Politics

Delivered by FeedBurner


Political Commentary

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT

Advertisement

Your Ad Here
Your Ad Here
  • HOME
  • WORLD
  • USA
  • BUSINESS
  • WEALTH
  • STOCKS
  • TECH
  • HEALTH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • SPORTS

2010 Elections: Congress Must Act Now to Alleviate Child Hunger

  • Services:
  • RSS Feeds
  • Shopping
  • Email Alerts
  • Site Map
  • Privacy